Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

71 reviews

readinghavoc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book was such a letdown. The concept is so interesting but it takes ~250 pages for anything worthwhile to happen. I feel like the author relied heavily on cheap thrills and shock value (I'm still annoyed that the whole opening is spent setting the scene for a story we never get the rest of. It was fine? I passively enjoyed it? But I think it really wasted its potential. Unreliable narrators can be so fun, but this story felt like the goalposts were constantly moving (not a perfect metaphor, but it captures the feeling). The family being dead was a great shock, and I thought it would be the turning point that redeemed the story, but the constant twists after that just felt really cheap, and the writing on Ethan at the end was so unbelievable that it just took me out of the book entirely. This was 3.5 stars before that. I don't understand what I was meant to walk away from this story with. There was no genuine satisfaction. I wouldn't recommend reading it, it's really nothing special and there are much better books to spend your time on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Car accident, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Stalking, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Child death, Death, and Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

_marinarasauce's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 WHOLEEEEE STARSSSSSSSS and .75 AMAZING SERIOUSLY AMAZING and ppl say like that the beginning is too slow and it takes forever to get good but it gives it more time to introduce the main character and build on her personality and her like instability and it gives her more like unreliability and i watched the movie before reading the book but it was DEFINITELY STILL WORTH IT and since i knew what happened at the end i could pick up on all the FORESHADOWINGGGF LIKE SERIOUDLT THERES SO MANY AND ITS AMAZING and the WRITING IS PERFECT I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH a strong recommend if u liked gone girl and very VERY GOOD IMAGERY AND JUST AMAZING I LOVED IT MY NEW FAVORITE BOOK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Car accident, Violence, Death, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gaslighting and Murder

Minor: Suicide

2015spamly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Mental illness

hailhail's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Car accident, Drug abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Death, and Gaslighting

nikkithegeek's review against another edition

1.0

This book was a huge disappointment for me. It started quite promising with a twist on "Rear Window", I liked the addition of agoraphobia. What I didn't like was literally everything else. The heavy alcoholism. The drug abuse. The protagonist. Yes, I don't have to like protagonists, I am well aware of that, but I disliked her intensly and found her to be immensly stupid. I'm sorry but I like my women to be capable and strong and I like them to learn from their mistakes. To improve. I want to know that this is possible, to get better, to do better. I like to see hope somewhere, at least a little bit. I nearly tossed it but thriller-wise it did somewhat okay and offered decent plot-twists that kept me hanging in there. But - I would have missed nothing if I wouldn't have finished it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Car accident, and Drug abuse

h0lyfool's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

the beginning of the book was interesting but slower than i would have liked. 

it started getting more interesting as the story progressed and kept me wanting to know more.
the ending was surprising and looking back, there were definitely clues scattered throughout the book which is very smart.
dr. anna fox is an intriguing character and while it is sometimes hard to understand her, you ultimately find yourself sympathizing with and rooting for her. 
the unreliable first person narrator is a very clever device to keep the reader guessing what‘s real and what‘s not. 
in the end, an enjoyable book that could have been better in some ways. still recommend it.

And if I don‘t want to die, I‘ve got to start living.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

Minor: Child death, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Infidelity, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

ireneb2006's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Great book. Really suspenseful, and a lot of great plot twists. Starts off kind of slow, then speeds up at an exponential rate. Finished this book in a couple days; one i did not want to put down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gaslighting, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Child death

michelleklejmont's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Super fast paced book, read it in less than a day, almost one sitting! Unreliable narrator and lots of suspense, twists and turns.

I am not however a fan of the kid being the bad guy at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child death, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

taelights's review against another edition

4.0

This book was way better than I had imagined going into it. The plot was very interesting and there were so many twists that I did not see coming. Anna did get on my nerves a bit but I also felt very bad for her throughout the book. But some of her actions really made me so annoyed at her. It was overall a very fun read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

kikis_shelf's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders